NASA Embraces Bitcoin Blockchain to Prevent Aerospace Cyber Attacks & Air Traffic Mgt

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration; NASA - an independent agency of the United States government responsible for aviation and spaceflight, is now exploring the benefits of the blockchain.   

Ronald Reisman, a NASA aero-computer engineer, is optimistic that DLT-based communication systems could play an important role in preventing spoofing and denial of service attacks, especially in the American air-traffic control system.   

"The design innovation is the use of an open source permissioned DLT framework to allow aircraft privacy and anonymity while offering a secure & efficient way for communication with air traffic services, operations support, or several other authorised entities," Ronald said.   

Hyperledger Fabric   

Spoofing is a method of attacking a computer program, in which the program is modified so as to appear to be working normally when in reality it has been modified with the purpose to circumvent security mechanisms.   

The Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system is likely to go live in the year 2020, though engineer Ronald thinks the system is at high risk of cyber-attack.   

ADS-B is an effective surveillance tech whereby an aircraft ascertains its position through satellite navigation and then allows it to be traced.   

Nevertheless, ADS-B doesn’t fix an aircraft’s flight plans & positions, which results in a series of problems. Ronald believes that blockchain technology could be a significant solution. 

An engineer at NASA Ames Research Centre, Ronald J. Reisman, said:   

“The system seeks to leverage an industrial-strength open-source enterprise-DLT framework known as Hyperledger Fabric to exhibit potential solutions to vexing technical issues that menace the adoption of ADS-B by Military, Corporate, and other aircraft operators who do not want their activities and movements observable by the general public.”   

Hyperledger Fabric is a DLT developed away from the fintech industry and created for enterprise use.   

As Coinidol recently reported, NASA announced a proposal for air traffic management blockchain technology to effectively secure aircraft flight information.